Chineke! performs "String Quartet No. 3 in G minor" by Joseph Bologne (Chevalier de Saint-Georges)
BBC Music Magazine
July 3, 2020
Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799)
An
acclaimed composer and violinist, Joseph Bologne (also known as
Chevalier de Saint-Georges) delighted the French court with his
orchestral works as well as the pieces he wrote for the violin. He
joined the king’s guard and was knighted after winning an impossible
duel against a French swordsman, a feat which made him known across all
of Europe.
Saint-Georges
was later given the nickname ‘Black Mozart’. The pair met during
Mozart’s early years in France, and the innovative structure of the Symphonies Concertantes
they both composed, doubling the violin solo to obtain two layers of
melody, prompted audiences to identify a link between them by the time
the younger Mozart’s fame had grown.
In fact, historians believe that entire themes from Mozart’s Les Petits Riens
ballets were borrowed from Saint-Georges’ own pieces. Chi-Chi Nwanoku,
founder of the BME orchestra Chineke!, assesses the relationship between
the two composers’ oeuvres in her documentary In Search of the Black Mozart.
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